In North Carolina "the Triangle" is typically used to refer to three rival ACC basketball schools in close proximity to one another, but the Tar Heels, Wolfpack and Blue Devils are always able to rally around one another in times of need.
On Tuesday afternoon, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, shot and killed three young students: Deah Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19. Barakat was a second-year dentistry student at the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill, a program his wife was going to start in the fall. Razan was an undergraduate at North Carolina State University (NCSU).
Hicks has been arrested, as he turned himself in Tuesday night after initially fleeing and he is now being held in jail between court appearances.
As police are investigating, trying to determine if the shooting was a hate crime or a parking spot dispute gone way too far, Duke University has joined its fellow triangle schools in mourning the losses of three young students.
According to the Huffington Post, students, faculty and officials from all three schools gathered Wednesday night on the UNC campus for a candlelight vigil.
"This is the saddest, most heart-breaking and incomprehensible day," UNC Chancellor Carol Folt said at the vigil, according to the Duke Chronicle. "We want the legacy of these three to be the legacy of hope and understanding."
Both Barakat and his wife Yusor graduated from NCSU with bachelor's degrees in business administration and biological sciences, respectively. Razan was a sophomore studying architecture at the NCSU College of Design.
Several of the three students' friends, classmates and instructors spoke with NCSU's communications department, sharing stories and memories of Barakat, Yusor and her sister.
"When a North Carolina student is harmed, all of our students are harmed," Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president for student affairs, said at a news conference before the vigil, according to the Chronicle. "When a Muslim student anywhere in the state, anywhere in the country is harmed, all of our students are harmed. Grief occurs in but a moment, but healing will take much longer. We have to commit the same solidarity we demonstrate tonight to a much lengthier period of solidarity to enable our students to heal."
